Alvarez KOs Kovalev to win WBO light heavy title

Share

Canelo Alvarez (Getty Images)

Las Vegas - Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez knocked out Sergey Kovalev with a vicious
combination in the 11th round to win the WBO light heavyweight title on
Saturday, moving up two weight classes to become a four division champ.

The
29-year-old Mexican superstar caught Russia's Kovalev with a left
hook-right hand combination that sent the former champion almost
crashing through the ropes near the end of the 11th round at the MGM
Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

"This is just one step in my history," Alvarez said. "Be patient because Canelo will make history. It's a guarantee."

'Krusher'
Kovalev was officially knocked out at 2:15 of the 11th and stayed down
for some time while being attended to by his corner and the doctor.

It
was one of the most devastating knockouts of the brilliant career of
boxing's biggest star Alvarez, who was fighting in the 175 pound
division for the first time.

"The plan was patience, to have
patience. We knew it would take time for me to get to him. I am new at
this division, but overall it was successful," Alvarez said.

The
fight had been close throughout with Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KOs) winning
most of the early rounds by using a steady jab to keep the burly Alvarez
at a distance. Alvarez was ahead 96-94, 96-94, 95-95 on the scorecards.

Alvarez
(53-1-2, 36 KOs) becomes just the fourth boxer in history to win a
junior middleweight world title and one at light heavyweight, a spread
of 21 pounds (154 to 175). The other three are Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas
Hearns and Mike McCallum.

Alvarez is also the second fighter from
Mexico to win a light heavyweight belt, joining Julio Gonzalez who did
it in 2003 and 2004.

Despite giving up a
size and reach advantage, Alvarez's best punch throughout was the left
hook which he used in the 11th to initially send Kovalev staggering
backwards to the ropes. As a defenceless Kovalev was going down, Alvarez
then landed a vicious right hand to the face that knocked the champion
out cold.

"It was a very close fight. He was defensive, closing
up his guard. All he was doing was establishing his points, getting
points. But we knew it was coming and everything came out the way we had
planned," Alvarez said.

This was Alvarez's first fight since a unanimous decision over Daniel Jacobs in May.

Alvarez
is now riding a four fight winning streak with his lone blemish being a
majority draw against Gennady Golovkin in their first of two bouts.

He
sought out Kovalev to add another belt to his impressive collection
which includes titles at junior middleweight, middleweight and super
middleweight.

Many boxing fans would have liked to have seen
Alvarez face rival and former unified titleholder Golovkin for a third
time after two highly entertaining but disputed bouts -- a draw in 2017
and a majority decision win for Alvarez in the 2018 rematch. But Alvarez
had other plans.

Alvarez left that door open on Saturday for another showdown with Golovkin.

"It
is really not a challenge for me," he said. "We fought 24 rounds and we
beat him. But if it represents business then why not."

Kovalev was the biggest name in the light heavyweight division having boxed there his entire career, which began in 2009.

"I
tired after the sixth round," said Kovalev. "I had instructions to use
more jabs. Just not enough stamina. It is okay, I will be back."

The
Russian was hoping that a win over pound-for-pound king Alvarez would
help resurrect an ageing career that had been on shaky ground of late.

Kovalev
lost his WBA, IBF and WBO belts in back-to-back defeats to Andre Ward
in 2016 and 2017, but regained a share of the title after beating
Colombia's Eleider Alvarez in a rematch in February.

Kovalev
was coming off an 11th-round knockout of mandatory challenger Anthony
Yarde in August, making this one of the shortest breaks between fights
in his career.

Even though he beat Yarde, Kovalev still found himself in trouble and was nearly stopped in the eighth round.

In
bizarre move for a major boxing card, Saturday's main event was delayed
for over an hour with both fighters left to lounge in their dressing
rooms with gloves on because the boxing streaming service DAZN wanted to
wait until a televised mixed martial arts bout in New York had finished
first.

The Vegas boxing crowd was shown the martial arts fight on a big screen in the arena while they waited.